PSU Magazine Winter 1998

r ( ) r) r ) ( ) r) J \-j j ~~ J _j_r' ~ J _j_,-- ~ ~· J t's easy to see why CEOs trust Renee Fellman-she has a ready smile, an attentive ear, and tremendous command of her subject. And in any light there's a perceptible glint of steel from within. Sitting in her executive suite in the posh Union Bank of California tower in downtown Portland, she leans forward, smiles pleasantly and says with unconditional conviction and not a trace of that smile in her voice: "Companies can't afford mediocre performance-especially troubled companies." Not in employees, not in managers, not in hired guns-like Fellman. Fellman is a business turnaround specialist-a management consultant hired by companies on life-support, usually at the insistence of their banks. Often her clients can't cover their 16 PSU MAGAZINE WINTER 1998 checks. Can't ship their products on time. And are staring down the barrel of a possible lawsuit. That's when Fellman's phone rings. "I'm an emergency room doctor," she says. "Only the patient is in the emergency room for months." Recently the Turnaround Management Association, a professional group 2,500 strong, awarded Fellman its highest honor, the 1997 Turnaround of the Year for companies with less than $50 million annual revenue. When she steps into a corporate crisis, Fellman typically finds the company has not been profitable for several years, has no operating plan, no department budgets, and doesn't know its true costs. It's a company with no game plan. Companies need to understand their market and what's going on that Renee Fellman MBA '85 is a turnaround specialist. might affect their industry, then sit down and analyze their strengths and weaknesses, set sales and expense goals and put this all in writing, she says. "It's just amazing how many businesses don't do that-it's like playing football with no goal posts." ro-J ellman's first step is to take .,....J control of the cash. She _J outlines which expenses will be paid, when they will be paid, and sets tight limits on what can be purchased. For some companies, cutting expenses can mean the highly unpopu– lar step of cutting payroll. Fellman has cut the number of employees and also instituted across-the-board pay cuts– sometimes both. But she also seeks solutions from every level of the ranks. "Sometimes employees don't know a company is in